Thousands of immigrants marched through cities across the United States on Thursday, but smaller crowds suggested their cause had lost momentum in this election year.

Immigration-rights activists have retrenched to focus this year's rallies on stopping workplace raids after Washington failed last year to act on reforms that included a path to legal status for illegal immigrants.

In Los Angeles, an estimated 8,000 people converged on City Hall. But the numbers were nowhere near the 500,000-strong showing in March 2006 that caught authorities off-guard and prompted activists to hail the start of a new civil rights movement.

"This is a very young country built off immigrants. The immigrants of yesterday are citizens today, so immigrants of today should become citizens tomorrow," said Jose Rodriguez, who came to the United States from Mexico illegally in 1989 and has since gained permanent residency.

"The police are deporting immigrants because they have broken the law but I think there is a higher law and that is to treat someone in a humane way," said Rodriguez, 42.

In Phoenix, no one turned out to march, in contrast to past years when central thoroughfares were packed with protesters.

In Tucson, Arizona, a few hundred pro-immigration supporters walked through the streets carrying placards with messages such as "Citizenship Yes! Deportation No!" That fell short of organizers' hopes that several thousand would attend.

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